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What is a "War Monger"

C

cbrunny

Diamond Member
Not the dictionary definition, but what do you hear/think of/envision when someone is described as a "war monger"?
 
Someone who promotes war as the solution to most international problems, but who typically would never volunteer to directly participate in the fighting.
 
Someone for whom the default answer to foreign policy issues involves gunboat diplomacy, invasion, threats of invading, leveraging an insurgency, etc.

Basically, anyone that approaches foreign policy like a roid raging disphit in a locker room.

But that's who I think of as war mongers; when I hear someone else the term I usually roll my eyes because it's usually being used by some political figure (or wannabe) that's playing politics instead of talking about whatever-it-is evenhandedly.
 
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George W. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld.

Those names, images first come to mind. I have no control over that. They come to mind first. They just pop up when I hear "war monger". The news drilled it into our heads that they were war mongers. The world drilled it into our heads. I have no control over what my mind generates when I hear something, no more than you can control what randomly pops up in your head when I say the words, "Shaken, not stirred". Did you think of James Bond? If not, you are lying.
 
Persona who wants to send a nation or a tribe or a group into war for his own personal gain. Cheney is a perfect example, who profited immensely from the "Iraq war" which he forced Bush and others to start

Wait, is this a bait thread?
 
someone who has the mentality that any and all problems which may present themselves can be solved with a hammer, or the threat of using a hammer. And war is the hammer.
 
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Also someone who trolls others into war with each other. A person who likes war for profit and doesn't mind making a buck off the blood of infants from across the globe. Like I said, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld.
 
I think of people like John McCain and Lindsay Graham, people for whom the answer to every foreign policy issue is troops on the ground.

Or if you want to go outside the US, Putin and Netanyahu fit the description as well.
 
khon said:
I think of people like John McCain and Lindsay Graham, people for whom the answer to every foreign policy issue is troops on the ground.

Or if you want to go outside the US, Putin and Netanyahu fit the description as well.
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That's only McCain's solution when a Republican isn't in the white house....OR when he's running as an Independent because he can't convince the GOP that he's their man.

If McCain was given the chance, I'm sure he wouldn't commit troops like he claims he would. He's a Monday morning QB on everything when the cameras can't find anyone else to talk to.
 
cbrunny said:
No, not at all. I'm legitimately curious about what people think about "War Monger" as an adjective.

Stemming from a Facebook post in which someone called Canada's PM Harper a War Monger.
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i think people who use it are shrill idiots who like to resort to name-calling instead of actual thought
 
cbrunny said:
No, not at all. I'm legitimately curious about what people think about "War Monger" as an adjective.

Stemming from a Facebook post in which someone called Canada's PM Harper a War Monger.
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In the past few years (not his full time as PM), the guy has sent fighter jets (a whole 6 each time) to Libya and now Iraq pretty much for an indefinite amount of time, special forces to Iraq, keeps talking crap to Russia, blindly supports Israel even more strongly than the US, pulled diplomats out of Iran... No idea where people would get the idea from.
 
Imp said:
In the past few years (not his full time as PM), the guy has sent fighter jets (a whole 6 each time) to Libya and now Iraq pretty much for an indefinite amount of time, special forces to Iraq, keeps talking crap to Russia, blindly supports Israel even more strongly than the US, pulled diplomats out of Iran... No idea where people would get the idea from.
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This post is based on your post being sarcasm. If not, please ignore.

So, to you being a war monger is the following:

1. 6 fighter jets supporting an international war effort.
2. Special forces to Iraq.
3. Talking crap to Russia <- Not war.
4. Supporting Israel "more strongly than the US" <- even if this were possible, it still isn't war.
5. Pulled diplomats out of Iran. <- Not war.

So, 6 fighter jets and some special forces in Iraq is a war monger?

EDIT:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

USA spent $682.7 Billion on Military for 4.4% of GDP in 2012.
Canada spent $22.6 Billion on Military for 1.3% GDP in 2012.

So, the USA spent ~3.4x more in relative GDP %, and 30.2x in real dollars than Canada.

I'm sorry, I know I'm jacking my own thread here but I just don't see how Harper could possibly be considered a war monger. A Jr. War Monger in Training? Sure. But Canada isn't even on the scale...
 
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Monger:
1: broker, dealer &#8212;usually used in combination <alemonger>
2: a person who attempts to stir up or spread something that is usually petty or discreditable &#8212;usually used in combination

therefore:
Someone who deal in war, such as Raytheon
OR
Someone who try to create war out of petty circumstances, such as drumming up an invasion of Iraq on the back of the chemical weapons we gave them.
 
cbrunny said:
This post is based on your post being sarcasm. If not, please ignore.

So, to you being a war monger is the following:

1. 6 fighter jets supporting an international war effort.
2. Special forces to Iraq.
3. Talking crap to Russia <- Not war.
4. Supporting Israel "more strongly than the US" <- even if this were possible, it still isn't war.
5. Pulled diplomats out of Iran. <- Not war.

So, 6 fighter jets and some special forces in Iraq is a war monger?
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Definitions:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monger

a person who attempts to stir up or spread something that is usually petty or discreditable...
Click to expand...

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/warmonger

one who urges or attempts to stir up war
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You don't have to go to war to be a "monger". It's about your positions and your approach to conflict. You'd rather threaten someone with war than talk about it diplomatically (e.g. closing an embassy), use economic sanctions, etc.

And the US is the United States of America, known internationally as the leader of the free world, and the world's "policeman". That's just what they do and they have the large stick to back their tough talk. Expectations are different.
 
Imp said:
Definitions:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monger



http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/warmonger



You don't have to go to war to be a "monger". It's about your positions and your approach to conflict. You'd rather threaten someone with war than talk about it diplomatically (e.g. closing an embassy), use economic sanctions, etc.

And the US is the United States of America, known internationally as the leader of the free world, and the world's "policeman". That's just what they do and they have the large stick to back their tough talk. Expectations are different.
Click to expand...

Ah, see this is interesting to me. Thanks for clarifying. My interpetation of "War Monger" is such that it takes actual war, at minimum. Interesting that it is not this way for everyone.
 
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